The Big Chill

I was riding in a car with a young man the other day and as we approached our destination a truck driver was blocking our entrance. An old man was driving and he appeared to be panicky as he tried to find an opening in the traffic to drive his truck onto the road into the heavy traffic. He had inadvertently maneuvered his truck into our lane and was blocking our entrance into the shopping center. The young man I was with became very irate. He threw his hands up in the air, let out an angry growl and angrily muttered something about the truck driver being a stupid idiot. I told him to calm down and be patient. Just as I did, the traffic died down enough to allow the truck driver to enter the highway and move his truck whereby we could enter the shopping center. We were delayed no more than a minute or two at most.

Later I was riding with him again, only this time on the freeway and a similar incident occurred when we tried to change lanes on the expressway. Someone moved into the space that we were trying to occupy. The same gesturing with throwing the hands in the air, beating the hands on the dashboard, muttering and calling the other driver a stupid idiot, and venting of expressions of angry frustration was repeated. What is the hurry?

I told him to chill out a little. One thing I have noticed about myself is that the older I become, the mellower I become. Just a few years back I probably would have honked the horn, gestured, and challenged the driver to a fight. It seems odd that Im now counseling others on chilling out. Not only do I notice it in driving situations, but I notice it at work. I spend a great deal of time now counseling younger managers and urging them to show restraint and be more patient. That is the one big advantage that I am seeing about becoming old. There are many disadvantages to growing old, mainly stamina and health related, but older people have an advantage when it comes to wisdom. It is a shame that many of us have to spend a lifetime getting to the point of understanding that some things are just not worth getting upset over. In fact most things fall into that category. The other thing is that people make mistakes. All people make mistakes including us. We need to calm down, chill out and relax. As usual the Bible puts it best….

Psalms 37:7

Rest in the Lord, and wait

patiently for Him.

How well do you know the Bible?

A silver-haired head can be a crown of glory, provided ____________. What?

Proverbs 16:31

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible

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